Taylor Swift Announces New ‘Red’ Album Release Date + Debuts Single in Webcast

Taylor Swift treated her fans to a live webcast tonight (Aug. 13) in which she shared a ton of huge news, namely about her next album and single.

“I have some really big news. I have a new album coming out October 22,” she announced. “The album title is called ‘Red’ and we’ve already done so much work for this. I wanted to show you the album cover, too.” She unveiled the cover — literally — which was covered in a red sheath. The girl knows her marketing! It’s a profile shot, featuring her red lips (deliberate, we bet!) and her trademark wavy hair. Though it’s straight with bangs now, her album covers have almost always featured curls. In this shot, her small blue eyes are obscured for a mysterious effect.

So why ‘Red?’ “I wrote a song called ‘Red’ and thinking about what that means to me and all the different emotions that are written about on this album, they’re all about the tumultuous, insane, intense, semi-toxic relationships I’ve experienced in the past two years,” Swift explained. Interesting, considering she’s not known for long-term romances!

On that note, Swift played her new single, ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,’ for her viewers. In typical Swift style, it’s an empowering breakup song. For a gal who’s never been in a serious relationship that we know of, she sure knows how to handle heartbreak like a pro!

Swift said that she chose the 16 tracks that made the album from a total of 30 to 35 potential songs, and that she approached songwriting differently on ‘Red’ — meaning she had help. Swift didn’t have any co-writers on ‘Speak Now,’ but she told viewers that she called her songwriting heroes to see if they wanted to collaborate — and who’s gonna turn down tracks with Taylor Swift?! “I got to work with some of my absolute favorite people in music so this is album is full of co-writers,” she gushed. “The people that I worked with, I feel like were incredible and lived up to what I thought they were.”

The collaborations that made the cut include her duet with adorbs Brit Ed Sheeran, which was apparently written when they were on a trampoline. Does it not sound like the most fun job ever?